In this age of terrorism and out-of-control illegal immigration, it is a growing belief by many Americans that we must all be regulated, restricted, licensed, registered, directed, checked, inspected, measured, numbered, counted, stamped, authorized, fined, harassed, disarmed, exploited and taxed in the name of protection. Trouble is, that outlook is just plain wrong, and it isn't freedom.
According to a report from the London-based Privacy International, "Privacy is being extinguished in country after country." The report also noted that privacy was improving in the former communist states of Eastern Europe, but it is worsening across Western Europe and the United States. According to the report, of 47 countries surveyed, Malaysia, Russia and communist China ranked worst, but Great Britain and the United States also fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies."
As technology develops, data banks of personal information are being collected on everything from medical records, to financial and employment histories, to school records, to buying habits at the supermarket. The government is building data banks on farm animals. Our cars have little black boxes that record data on our driving habits. In addition, the uses of video cameras, computer chips and biometric screening to monitor our activities are growing rapidly.
Step by step, using a wide variety of good excuses, Americans are allowing themselves to be fingerprinted, their eyes scanned, computer chips inserted under their skin, providing DNA, and more....read more
